Something Smells "Fishy" ...

... and the bad news is, it's us!  Jesus said, "the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad" (Mt.13:47-48).

Yes, Jesus' Kingdom here on earth, the Church, contains people doing deeds both good and bad - we are saints, hypocrites, and the whole continuum in between.  For some reason it shocks us, even though Jesus said it would be that way "until the close of the age," when "the angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire" (Mt.13:49-50). When we're betrayed by a shepherd or fellow Christian, we're tempted to pull back from the Church entirely.  We have to fight that urge.  We can't allow the scent of sin to rob us of the much more powerful "aroma of Christ" (2 Cor.2:15).